77 WEST WACKER DRIVE

'77 West Wacker Drive', also known as the 'United Building'^[1], is an office building in Chicago. Finished in 1992, the building rises to a height of 668 ft (204 m) with 959,719 square feet (89,152 square meter) of interior space. Although only 49 floors, the building skips the 49th floor so that it can claim its top level is at the 50th. It was formerly known as the 'RR Donnelley Building' when the RR Donnelley printing company was the primary tenant. However, RR Donnelley moved their corporate headquarters to a different location in May 2005, and in 2007 the building became the corporate headquarters of United Airlines.
The exterior of the tower, designed by architect Ricardo Bofill, is clad in Portuguese white granite pilasters with silver reflective glass and stainless steel mullions. At night, 540 lamps light the building and its surroundings. Allegedly, the metal roof was painted green because they didn't want to wait for the copper to patina naturally.
The interior is similarly styled. The classical Greek style is repeated inside, with Thassos marble walls and a 40 ft (12 m) tall coffered ceiling made of white oak wood.
A sculpture by Xavier Corbero called “Three Lawyers and A Judge” graces the building, as does Antoni Tapies' artwork called “Big Eyelids.” Bofill further contributed by creating a sculpture entitled “Twisted Columns” which appears to float above a reflecting pool.
As of March 19, 2007, United Airlines will relocate their headquarters from suburban Elk Grove Village to 77 West Wacker Drive. The deal includes naming rights to the building.^[2] Microsoft is a major tenant in the building, occupying multiple floors.^[3]
The building was used as a filming location for the 1998 film The Negotiator. ^[4]

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ List of skyscrapers

★ List of tallest buildings in the United States

★ List of tallest buildings in Chicago

★ World's tallest structures

References

1. 77 W. Wacker Drive
2. CoStar Realty Press Release http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=394C6565A1F7D767BB177BBEF7C9D48C
3. Microsoft.com office address listing http://www.microsoft.com/services/microsoftservices/srv_mtcChicago.mspx
4. The Negotiator filming locations, IMDb



★ Emporis listing

★ Prime Group Realty Trust